So Welcome to the Third Life of the Mauraders. Thanks to those of you who are following this. :) This one is gonna be darker. The boys have died twice now and they're getting serious.
Trigger Warnings: PTSD, References to abuse, main character death
Disclaimer: I def don't own any of this.
The third time Remus John Lupin attended Hogwarts he burst into tears when the sorting hat shouted out Ravenclaw after it had been stuck on Sirius Black's head for a solid twenty minutes. He sobbed through the Sorting Hat being placed on his own head and felt his lower lip tremble as he trudged over to sit next to a triumphant Sirius.
Tears threatened to spill out of his eyes when the hat stalled again. This time it sat on Peter's head for five minutes before it snapped out "Fine. Ravenclaw for you too, foolish boy." Just as Remus was finally getting ahold of himself he broke into a fresh round of weeping when Potter, James was sorted in Ravenclaw after barely a minute.
The third time Remus was sorted in Ravenclaw he crawled into his blue, four-poster bed and went to sleep certain this time would be different. That certainty lasted until the moon rose and all four boys woke up screaming, terrified of the silver moonlight streaming through the windows of Ravenclaw tower.
By the time they walked into the Great Hall the next morning the new Ravenclaws' nightmares were already the talk of Hogwarts. They quickly got so bad that the boys resorted to silencing charms on their bed curtains and brewing unhealthy amounts of dreamless sleep in their bathroom.
It took several months but eventually, the boys hit upon sleeping in the same bed as a viable alternative to an early potions addiction. When the memories of torture and evisceration got too strong they could immediately reach out and cling to each other. Something as simple as hug was a powerful Patronus again their darkest fears.
Of course, Agustus Rookwood looked at his fellow first years oddly the first morning he saw them all piled together in Remus's bed. Remus flinched when he felt the other boy's eyes on them and refused to look up. James, who was curled up beside Remus, felt a little shiver run down the werewolf's body. Sirius noticed how Remus's eyes went a little too wide and Peter was reminded how sometimes, in their second lifetime, he'd found Remus curled up in random classrooms unwilling to sleep in Ravenclaw tower. Something cold ran through the veins and settled in the stomachs of the boys who would become The Mauraders.
The third time Remus Lupin was sorted into Ravenclaw he never heard about how one day, while he was recovering from the full moon in the hospital wing, Peter tripped Augustus causing him to fall behind the rest of the first years. Remus never found out that Sirius slammed a frightened eleven-year-old up against a wall in retaliation for things the boy had done in other lifetimes. The kind werewolf never heard about the threats Sirus and Peter hissed at the boy while James kept a lookout, whistling a cheerful tune that was at odds with the cold, grim look on his face.
After all, Remus would always maintain that you couldn't blame people for the choices they made in other lives. His friends respect that belief, even if they thought it was a bit naive, so Remus never learned about that day. All Remus Lupin knew was that after the third time he was sorted in Ravenclaw James, Peter, and Sirius never left him alone with Augustus Rookwood again.
The third time Remus Lupin was sorted into Hogwarts he learned that the adults he respected were only human. The other Marauders would make excuses for their favorite professors but Remus never quite trusted the adults of Hogwarts after his third life.
He could never look at Flitwick quite the same way after he lectured Remus on defending Sirius. The diminutive charms teacher called the boy a dark wizard despite the fact that, as far as Flitwick knew, Sirius was only an eleven-year-old child. It made Remus's blood go cold and then burning hot. (Yes, the wild boy had shot off an entrail expelling curse that no first year should have any business knowing when Alecto Carrow bumped into him but that didn't mean Sirius was evil.)
Remus watched his professors warily after his third year when Professor McGonagall took a hundred points from James certain the flawless N.E.W.T. level transformation he had done was only possible with dark magic. Remus would always get a little shiver up his spine when he thought how in 6th year Hagrid had roared at Peter to get away from Lily Evans, even though he'd only drawn his wand to try and heal her twisted ankle. And he always hated Slughorn for cozying up to monsters like Malfoy while making no effort to hid the fear in his eyes whenever the four Ravenclaws strode into his classroom.
Unsurprisingly, all the boys were approached by members of Voldemort's growing clan of sycophants. This time none of them considered being a spy, instead, they broke the bones of anyone stupid enough to suggest they would go far with the patronage of the Dark Lord.
The third time Remus went to Hogwarts he spent most of it in the library. Having already spent two lifetimes learning Lumos and Wingardum Leviosa, homework was laughingly simple. So Remus took advantage of one of the greatest repositories of knowledge in the wizarding world in a way no other student, except perhaps a boy named Tom Riddle, ever had.
He found spells to trace the essence of a person no matter what disguise they wore and follow their movements. Those spells culminated in a map that had a far different purpose than the map he and his friends had started to make in their last lifetime. This map allowed them to track everyone in Hogwarts. With a bit of tweaking, it would also lead them to anyone who had ever walked the halls of Hogwarts, no matter how many wards they hid behind.
With his friends help Remus brewed potions that forced the truth from the most reluctant lips. He found spells to maim, kill, and control minds that were so old there were no laws against their use. At Peter's suggestion, Remus dug up books on Animugus training and then the boys debated the forms they should take in order to maximize their chances of killing Death Eaters.
Only once did Remus notice James Potter watching Lily Evans as she flirted with her longtime boyfriend, Snape. When he raised an eyebrow James sighed, shook his head and returned to puzzling out ancient runes. He was too old for the girl he had worship lifetimes ago. It was the first time Remus realized that even though they managed to relive their lifetimes there were some things they could never get back. It hurt to see the resignation in James' eyes so Remus did his best to ignore it and threw himself into his research instead.
The third time Remus was sorted into Ravenclaw all four boys graduated from Hogwarts summa cum laude and then immediately vanished. Within weeks of graduation, a small group of vigilantes started terrorizing Wizarding Britain.
A select few saw a pattern in the attacks. Unfortunately, all the wider public knew was that highly respected witches and wizards were being found killed in their own homes.
From the survivors' accounts, the Ministry managed to get some idea of what they were facing. There were always four men. They used code names and their faces were masked with magic. The men would break the wards and then storm into homes in the dead of night wielding terrible magic. The press named them the Marauders and they pushed the frightened wizarding population of Britain to the breaking point.
Terrified by the Ministry's inability to protect them witches and wizards flocked to Voldemort. Tom Riddle was a clever man and he presented a compelling argument, one designed to maximize his influence. If the people being attacked were all powerful, pureblood wizards who had spoken out again Muggleborns then surely the Mauraders must be dissatisfied Muggleborns, jealous of the purebloods power and wealth. To the horror of the Mauraders, all it took was that single well-placed rumor and The Wizarding World fell to pureblood fanaticism with barely a whimper.
The third time Remus Lupin was sorted in Ravenclaw (but only the second time he graduated Hogwarts) he realized that the Mauraders had been a bit too clever. They had worked hard to make themselves even more dangerous than the Death Eaters they hunted and managed to turn themselves in the boogieman instead of Voldemort. Looking down the business end of Alister Moody's wand, Remus Lupin was forced to acknowledge that he'd made a tactical error.
Faced with the possibility of battling The Order of the Phoenix, James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin hesitated for the first time since they'd graduated Hogwarts. Severus Snape didn't have any such compunctions. He threw the first Avada Kedavra fueled by the thought of his muggleborn wife being sentenced to Azkaban for existing. He hated that his family had been torn apart, that the wizarding world had been weak enough to flee to Voldemort, but mostly he hated how it could all be traced back to four Ravenclaws who had decided to start killing anyone in their way.
The third time the Mauraders died it was quick and relatively painless. Two dozen Avada Kedavaras will do that.
So There is Chapter 3. Two more to go I think. Let me know what you think. :) To anyone who remembers I said I'm trying to get these guys closer and closer to canon...yes they're going to end up canon (hopefully) but they're def not there yet. The idea that the ends justify the means got out of hand here. (Actually, it got a lot more out of hand than I had originally planned. Ravenclaws can be scary. But then I always thought the Mauraders had the potential to be downright terrifying.)
